8 ways to celebrate International Cat Day

They say that curiosity killed the cat. This expression does not hold true at the Curiosity Cat Café, however.

Instead, this café offers a unique dining experience that you can have with cats! Based at a Siberian cat cattery in Noordhoek, you can book a session with the owners to have tea with their friendly, fluffy cats.

You will be served with tartlets and tea whilst hordes of felines try to trip you up and demand loving attention.

Did you know Siberian cats are considered a popular hypoallergenic breed? Despite their long, thick fur, they naturally produce lower levels of the allergen-causing protein Fel d 1 compared to many other cats.

So their hair won’t cause sniffling and sneezing, and they are super affectionate, so you will be tempted to tuck one in your bag and take it home.  

The cat cafe is not suitable for children under 12, and booking is mandatory.

Contact Curiosity Cat Café to book.

Another purrfect alternative for cat-lovers is the Cat Heaven Rescue Cat Café in Somerset West.  

Cats (real, living cats) can be found lazing all around the café, and while you nibble on your teatime treats, you can offer them cat treats for their own nibbling pleasure. 

There is also a cat gift shop to buy cute and feline-esque décor and bits and bobs. Proceeds from the sale of catty gifts go towards supporting rescue cats, so you get the dual pleasures of retail therapy and supporting a cat charity.

Do you want to just go slow and hang out with cats?  

There are several ways to find some feline company. For instance, you could volunteer at the different animal shelters. DARG in Hout Bay is a great place to hang out with cute cats.

They have a garden that's just for cats, and you can feel all the warm and fuzzy whilst petting these cute pussycats.

The SPCA in Grassy Park has cat rooms specially to interact with the kitties, and their volunteers are known as “animal angels”.

The TEARS animal rescue organisation also welcomes cat-cuddling volunteers.

 If your cat is used to a leash and enjoys making friends, there is an opportunity to take them for a cat walk in Green Point Urban Park (which has free entry) - just one of the great day trip ideas in Cape Town. 

Celebrate your sassy, courageous cat on a gentle amble in this beautiful, expansive park, but perhaps avoid the section reserved for dogs and you are not allowed to take cats into the Biodiversity Garden (in case they eat the biodiversity!).

You might be lucky enough to catch the eye of the other cat-walkers who use this park and spark a conversation about your furbabies whilst they sniff each other tentatively. 

Somebody has been painting cat silhouettes in the streets of Kalk Bay.

Nobody knows who the artist is, but there have been new little sleek feline silhouettes popping up in stairways and on walls in this little bohemian suburb in False Bay.

You can spend a pleasant afternoon exploring the little Kalk Bay shops whilst keeping your eyes peeled for cat-art and when you are done, you could stroll over to the harbour and watch the cats watching the fish that the fishermen have caught.

ALSO SEE: Why Kalk Bay is Kiff

While Egypt has the sphinx, Cape Town has the legendary bronze statue of a leopard perched on a giant boulder, looking out over Hout Bay, which can be seen while driving along the picturesque Chapman’s Peak Drive.  

The story behind this statue is poignant.  

The last leopard in the Cape Town region was seen on Little Lion’s Head in 1937 and since then, no leopards have roamed across our mountains. 

Ivan Mitford-Barberton decided to sculpt the 295kg bronze statue in 1963 and placed it on its rocky perch as a memorial to the wildlife that once stalked the mountains of the Cape Peninsula.

The longing captured in the stance of this stone feline is almost tangible as it gazes over a landscape lost to it forever. It serves as a reminder to value the wild ones in our world. 

ALSO SEE: Best Day Hikes in Cape Town

What better way to honour our cat friends than by supporting the wild cats that remain in Cape Town - the caracals? These lynx-like cats are found in the mountains around our city. The Urban Caracal Project, coordinated by Dr Gabriella Leighton, researches these cats to find out more about how they move and share the city with humans.  

You can e-meet the caracals of Cape Town on the Urban Caracal Project’s website and find out where caracals are often seen (such as in Constantia, Orangekloof, Tokai, Silvermine and in the Antelope Paddocks on the front of Table Mountain above the M3 highway). 

All too often, the caracal meet an early death on our roads, and so the Project teamed up with an artist to put reflective warning signs shaped like caracals on roads where there is a particularly high risk of cat road mortality.

If you see one of these reflective caracal signs, slow down and be aware of animals on the roadside. If you spot a caracal, let the project team know. And, if you want to pay tribute to these cats on International Cat Day, consider supporting this caracal research. 

ICYMI: Where to find the wild ones in Cape Town